Are questionnaires the leading cause of rebrands?
Recently, a client was having trouble thinking through the details of her offer suite. It just wasn’t sitting right with her. Everything she’d been taught, all the advice she’d been given — nothing fit her expectations for the brand, client experience or her lifestyle.
I told her to “Forget everything you’ve done before. Everything you’ve heard of. Everything everyone else does. What sounds FUN to you?”
30-minutes later, we’d come up with a totally reinvented offer suite that worked for HER.
(Because nothing is right or wrong when you march to your own [Brand] BEAT [Sheet.] YET – Everything is right or wrong when you march to the Beat of your own Sheet. More on this in a minute!)
So, about questionnaires…
Most are long, tedious, and stir up trouble. If you’ve ever filled out a questionnaire for any service provider ever, you know there is a usually a moment when you second guess yourself. Or worst – compare yourself to someone you perceive as “better,” or more successful.
Questionnaires make us feel vulnerable and/or exposed. And isn’t it ironic – they’re supposed to help us service providers articulate the brand & message better, yet struggling to articulate it is exactly why we’re hired in the first place. Oh, and btw, we need the questionnaire within 7 days or your entire project timeline is f*cked.
No pressure.
Questionnaires cause friction.
Friction leads to impulsive decision making out of integrity.
Everyone wants to be seen, heard, and understood. But not everyone understands themselves and what they want before they expect someone else to.
Which skews how questions are answered.
Partial truths vs. Full truths.
Ideas vs. Facts.
Maybes vs. ABSOLUTES.
What they want to hear vs. need to hear.
Words on a page vs. words that SAY something.
Strong copy vs. a SOLID message.
It’s this cocktail of uncertainty + comparisonitis + a looming deadline that triggers a“Sh*t-I-have-to-get-this-questionnaire-done-before-xyz-can-happen” reflex that inevitably leads to a rebrand a year later.
OOF.
Questionnaires cause friction.
Friction causes pain.
Pain causes retreat or rebrand based on what’s working for someone who isn’t in [perceivable] pain…
IT’S THE CIRCLE OF LIES. And it rules us alllll.
Enter: The Brand Beat Sheet. (Told you I’d come back to it)
Fun is my brand word.
It drives every decision. From concept to campaign.
If it’s not FUN, it’s friction.
My Brand Beat Sheet makes FUN ideas right for my brand, and wrong for someone else’s.
For example, the new way I’m doing client onboarding sans traditional questionnaires.
The toll-free number and JINGLE to get it stuck in your head.
The costume launch party.
Aaaand other stuff – censored because that term fits my “show business as seen on TV” concept too. (Thanks Brand Beat Sheet! 😉)
All right for me.
Allllllll wrong for someone else.
So, take from this what you will.
Or, click here to RSVP to the ENCORE presentation of my launch BTS to see my own Brand Beat Sheet in action.
Maybe if everyone wants to hang out after, we can sit in front of a screen, sing Kumbaya and talk about our own brand words?
